Mistakenly Eaten

8. All Aboard!

Althea walked on the wooden plank of the harbor that led towards the cut out entrance of the yacht, that was present by the shore, waiting for the passengers to boat it.

A sailor stood by the wheel of the yacht that was present at the very front.

It was a large three decks yacht and seeing how ginormous and larger than life it was, Althea gasped, knowing quite well and nicely that it must belong to the organization or else there was no way, one person would ever afford such a big boat, just to bring one contestant on board and in her terms, it was happening literally.

Her dream, that she pinned for, for the past three years, risked her everything by secretly cooking in her uncle’s restaurant just so she would get selected and now the time had come.

That’s why when Salva or as she knew Mr. Salvador Francesco, the recruiter from The Secret Chef Hunter’s Society, asked her to leave with him right away, since he claimed that all the other applicants had already arrived at the site of the competition and she was the last one. If she didn’t accept their offer or gave an answer within the next ten minutes, than she was going to lose the opportunity.

Unbeknownst to Althea, Salva had deliberately twisted his words in such a way that Althea would end up succumbing to his pressure and it did work for him.

Gigi on the other hand was not happy with the entire setting. Being the head of the security for the Santiago Corporations and having worked so closely with Nicholas, taking care of making sure that despite of Nicholas’s twin and look alike brother running an entire chain of money laundering businesses, Gigi always made sure that Nicholas’s name remained safe and clean.

He made sure that no one ever came closer to hurting Nicholas’s image and any threat to his name was always taken out and away and Gigi had been able to do that only because of his careful and crafted skills.

If someone threatened Nick or his image, Gigi would take them out intricately and Salva’s behavior of taking a woman, who seemed quite friendly, sweet and well known all around the town, seemed like a huge risk and red factor for Gigi and his job. That’s why, as he jumped on the board and pointed at the captain to start the engine and prepare for leaving, his face carried a grim look with a scruff formed around the corner of his lips.

He didn’t stay on board and up on the deck at all and instead, immediately walked down the stairs that were behind the yacht’s steering wheel and went inside one of the three rooms that were present in that boat. He made sure to shut his door loudly and show Salva how much pissed off he was with him.

Salva did hear the loud thudding sound of the door but acted oblivious and unbothered. He knew that Gigi wasn’t happy with the setting that he had worked up to take Althea with him but he couldn’t give the girl much window.

He was obviously afraid that if he told Althea that they would come back for her in a day or two, she might find out that he wasn’t actually a recruiter from the so called secret cooking association and his only chance to make Nick move on with his life and help him forget Cheryl lied in that girl’s ability to cook the delicious pasta, whose taste was still swirling inside his mouth.

He was definitely going to try her pasta again and this time, he was surely going to get an upper hand in the situation, since he could make her cook or do anything given to the fact that she was going to stay under his watch and he can use the card of the secret chef’s society that he could tell was adored by the girl.

Just as Althea reached the very edge of the plank, she paused for a minute and turned back to look at her city right behind her.

She had never left home. Nor for college or for travel.

The farthest she had ever gone was to Rome, to visit her sister in college and to have her mother’s back checked, after their local doctor suggested they ran an MRI of her mother’s back.

But that was also a day’s trip.

She was going to stay for weeks or maybe months away from home.

She had always imagined receiving the letter from Secret Chef Hunter’s Society, opening it with her friends and her mother in the middle of her living room and reading the words, that she was accepted and jumping up and down and screaming with joy on top of her lungs.

But one thing she was completely aware about life was the fact that it never happened the way you plan it to. It is full of surprises, twists and turns.

And for her, it was definitely a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity. If she was not going to grab it, she was going to regret it forever and that’s why, she agreed to get on board with Salva.

She wrote a letter to her mother, explaining the entire situation to her and wrote another to her friends, consciously handling them her business for the time she would have gone away, promising the parties addressed in those letters that she would come back only after winning that competition.

She was beyond excited as she bit the corner of her bottom lip and finally turned back, finding Salva holding out his hand for her.

“Shall we board?”

She nodded, smiling at him and grabbing his hand, getting up on the boat with nothing but her small purse.

Salva told her that she didn’t need to pack much and all of her clothing and belongings will be taken care of at the island and she did feel that it was true since most of the old participants of the competition had also said in their experience sharing posts that the competition and the organizer provided with much of the stuff required to live on the isolated place.

The captain finally steered the wheel on the boat and Althea and Salva walked ahead to perch down on the front of the deck.

Salva took his phone out and got busy checking on his upcoming schedule, which seemed empty so far, given to the fact that he was expecting to stay on the island for a long time but he began filling it up with plans, as he saw hope for getting off the island some time soon and that hope was no one but the girl with magic in her hands, Althea.

Althea – who sat looking back at the coast of her town, that had begun to become smaller and smaller as the boat steered away and towards the mysterious island that was going to change Althea’s life forever.

**********************

A loud knock on the door startled Althea, who yawned out loud and stretched her limbs, stretching out her dress up over on her exposed legs, as she heard the door to her small room open up.

She was given one of the three bedrooms of the yacht. It wasn’t quite big and had a queen sized bed was attached inside it with only a little space left to walk around the room and reach for a closet that had a small bathroom attached right next to it.

Althea sat up straight and Salva popped his head inside the bedroom.

“Sorry, If I am disturbing you but we are here.”

Just as Salva said those words, Althea gasped out loud and jumped out of the bed. She was about to rush towards the door but Salva held his hand out at her.

“Why don’t you get fresh first?”

She nodded and did just so and finally got up on the deck and sighed in complete astonishment as she saw the small piece of land surrounded by water and lush and tall trees that shrouded the entire internal structure of the island.

She took her phone out and began taking pictures of the island but Gigi stepped out and saw the phone in Althea’s hands. Her taking pictures of the island that was a safe haven for the Santiago family and was located at a remote location, could be an alerting and alarming situation for Gigi as head of the security of the Santiago corporation.

“Hey! Keep that phone down.” He yelled out loud at Althea, making her gasp and shake up.

She was standing by the very edge of the railing and Gigi’s loud and crude voice startled her, making her shake up and drop the phone down in the water.

She took a minute to access what had happened and after turning her gaze away from Gigi, she looked back and down at the water, where she had just dropped her phone.

“s**t! My phone.”

She yelled and screamed out loud, turning towards Gigi, who was initially angered at Althea but soon his anger turned in to guilt.

“Why the hell would you scream?”

Gigi bit his tongue inside her mouth, “Why were you clicking pictures of the island?”

“Because it is pretty, duh?”

Salva looked at Gigi, who gave a scornful look to him, warning him that Althea shouldn’t be using the phone anywhere near the island as it could risk the confidential location of the island that they couldn’t risk in any situation.

Salva had done everything with his own will without consultation with Gigi so far but he couldn’t continue doing things his own way, which would definitely offend Gigi, things especially regarding the island’s security, given to the fact that Gigi just had one job at the island and that was protecting Nicholas and Salva knew how serious the man was about his job.

He didn’t care even if Nicholas died of depression, he never allowed Nicholas to risk his security and die due to an outwardly attack on him.

Keeping in mind that Gigi would throw Althea down in the deep waters of the Mediterranean sea if she was going to become a threat to Nicholas’s security, Salva immediately turned towards Althea and smiled at her.

“We will get you a new one.”

“But my Mom got me that one.” She argued.

“So, what do you want us to do now? It is gone! You want us to jump in the water and get it for us.” Gigi yelled at her.

“Technically, if you have a conscience, you should.” Althea slurred back at him, not coming slow.

She was usually an easy going person and was never the one to argue or debate one but perhaps she was going by the rule, bent when she had to and snap when she could.

Gigi c****d at Althea and stepped ahead ready to throw her down in the sea but Salva stepped in and held him back.

Althea squinted her gaze at Gigi, something about him already told her that he was going to be tough to deal with but she had deal with Romano and Gustav, and perhaps she needed to thank them, since they had prepared her quite well to deal with rude, crude and indecent people like them.

“I will handle her!” Salva whispered at Gigi, who looked down at Salva with the same squinted eyes, flared nostrils and angst fill expression.

“Then control her, or else I will tie you with her and a bunch of bricks and throw you two down in the ocean.” Gigi whispered gruesomely in to Salva’s ears and the man could tell that Gigi was not much of a fan of bringing Althea to the island.

Salva sighed in relief that so far, he knew how to control Gigi and that’s why he needed to handle Althea so that she wouldn’t push Gigi’s wrong buttons and ruin Salva’s plan.

He turned around and looked at Althea with a soft plastered smile. She didn’t give in much to his smile and simply turned around, saddened over losing her phone that was so precious to her.

When she had turned twenty five, up till then she had a conventional button Nokia but on her birthday her mother had gotten her a touch screen mobile because Monique had watched her daughter save up from the mere salary and buy Irene the latest iPhone every year just so Irene wouldn’t feel left out or any less in front of her group of friends.

Losing that phone to her was losing a special touch and it made her deeply sad at the moment but then her eyes shifted up towards the approaching island, which made her wonder if it was simply a moment for her to feel and bask in and realize that in order to step forward and achieve her dreams, she would have to lose a lot and losing that phone in the water might just be the beginning.

Salva walked closer to Althea who stood by the railing of the boat. He wondered if she would be actually useful to his plan and help Nicholas fight his depression and get his ass off the island.

Salva knew that Nicholas would never mind him leaving alone on the island but at the same time, he was not going to leave his brother behind and move on with his life while knowing it very well that Nicholas also deserved a shot at life.

He looked at the island that was getting closer by every passing second and then looked back at Althea and it was clear as a day to him, she was his only key to make sure that the next time he left the island, he would never come back.

He cleared his throat and leaned towards her.

“Don’t worry about your phone! I promise you will have a better one than that, when you’ll leave the island.”

‘Just cure my friend’s depression with your food!’

Salva held the urge inside him to say those words.

“It is not about having a better phone but because my Mom got that one for me. It was really important and close to my heart.”

Salva looked at Althea and noticed her attire. She wore a plain floral dress, no heavy makeup, the dress slightly lose over her body, her hair falling free, probably slightly tangled as well. She was very plain, nothing like the girls that he usually interacted with or the girls that attracted him as well, which meant that he was safe around her.

One thing less to worry about!

Salva wondered.

Besides, she was working as a waitress in a small town in a small time restaurant, which meant that she wasn’t much of someone to feigned the lesson of class and elegance, which was yet another turn off for Salva.

He liked it when a girl in front of him carried herself in an expensive dress, expensive bags, heels and wore extravagant makeups and perfumes.

“Well, then maybe it might wash up on the shore one of these days if you are lucky enough but also if you are luckier than you will get enough money out of this competition to buy just not yourself but your mother enough phones that she would never run out of them.”

Althea smiled and nodded at him.

“I hope so too! Besides, I believe that every thing you lose is a step you take. And I took a really big step to be here on this boat and making my way towards my dream. If I achieve this, I don’t think, I will even remember about this phone because this competition and winning this title could take me to a place in a world that only existed in my dreams.”

Salva’s heart slightly drenched in guilt as he realized that what was a simply scapegoat for him was actually meant to be something big for Althea. But he was determined to help her make it big.

He had already decided that if she did help Nicholas out, he was going to hire her as his private chef and not just that but he was going to make sure that her life would turn out financially so that she would be in debt to him and simply do whatever he would ask her.

Soon the yacht harbored closer to the shore of the island and Althea gasped in pure awe, as she saw at least fifteen boats of different sizes lined up at the dock, where the captain anchored the ship and finally brought it closer to the ledge that led down towards the dry piece of land.

Althea’s heart beat loudly inside her chest.

Her dreams, that she had yearned so hard and pinned for the past three years was there.

Her hard work, her aspirations, her ambition that she worked for all the while staying in the dark shadows of her uncle and cousin without ever giving up on the hopes that her life would turn around one day for sure.

Just as the yacht latched to the wooden plank, Gigi was the first one to step ahead and pushing past Althea and Salva quite rudely.

Both Salva and Althea looked at him with confusion.

Whilst Salva knew what was bothering Gigi, he was only muddled to think why was Gigi so outrageously bothered, whilst Althea only wondered why the man was so tough and his actions complimented his looks quite well.

“After you!”

Like a gentleman Salva offered Althea to walk ahead over on the plank and she did just so, tapping her old worn out coat shoes over the steel plank and finally stepping on the land, where her dreams were going to get a new shape and meaning.

She sighed and smiled, taking in a whiff of the fresh islandic air that filled her lungs with a pump of the freshest oxygen her body had ever had in years.

It wasn’t just the pollution free environment of the island that made Althea feel fresh but also the fact that the land was going to be her chance at a new start at life.

Salva and Gigi led the way for her and three got inside an SUV that was already waiting for them right outside the docks.

“It is exactly the way old participants described it to be.” Althea chimed in excitement and Gigi looked at Salva through the rearview mirror, sitting on the passenger seat next to the driver, whilst Salva rode on the seat right behind him.

He noticed the annoyed look Gigi gave him but ignored him right away and turned towards Althea.

“So, how do you know all of this?” he asked Althea attaining her attention.

“Huh?”

“I mean, how are you in contact with all these previous participants, do you know someone personally who was previously selected for the competition?”

He asked, wondering how much of his lie could he actually stretch to make Althea believe everything. He was making sure to know what and how much Althea knew so that she would not catch him in his lie and so far, he was quite safe, given to the fact that he was able to drag her out of her town willingly in front of quite an audience.

“Oh! You might not heard about it but there is a f******k group.” Althea told him willingly, “It’s called Aspirants of the Secret Chef Hunter’s Society or as they have acronymed it ASCHS.”

“Wow! You have ever remembered the short forms.” Salva joked, suddenly beginning to realize how serious these things were for Althea.

He then straightened up, remembering to join the group and see what exactly was told in the so called f******k group.

He looked ahead of him and his eyes landed on the rearview mirror once again and he saw Gigi glaring at him, throwing daggers with his eyes which made him clear his throat and look away from Gigi’s daunting gaze.

Althea was in simple awe, watching the cleared pavement and the neat road that was cut up till the white square mansion, which was built right in the middle of the island.

She gasped in sheer excitement as the car entered the gates and the premises of the mansion.

“It is so beautiful.”

She was amazed by the beauty of the view that stood in front of her.

All her life she lived in a small house that was even smaller than the security room of that mansion so it was an amazing moment for her to watch such a big place appear in front of her and in that very mansion she was going to achieve her dreams.

The car halted in front of the wooden gate of the mansion and Salva hopped out of the car.

Althea was about to open up the door to her car but stopped when one of the guards outside the mansion stepped ahead and opened up the door for her.

Salva walked her inside the house, leaving Althea in complete awe as she assessed tbe beauty of the mansion and realized that it was even prettier than how the previous contestants had mentioned it to be.

“Wait here! I will be right back.”

Salva told Althea, as he left to get Serena and explain the whole situation to her.

Gigi didn’t bother to join the madness that Salva was about to unfold and immediately sprinted his feet towards the security and monitoring room of the mansion that was present near the main gate.

He stomped his feet with anger as he walked towards his team, coming up with own plan to increase the security on the island.

No one outside the regular circle of the island was allowed on the island and under Gigi’s surveillance and check, not even a bird had ever flown near the premises of the island and with Salva having brought an entire woman on the island without running a check on her background.

As soon as he entered the security room, all the guards of the island, who had gathered around in the large spacious room, where one entire wall was full of different monitor screens displaying the live footage of the entire island, including the hallways and the kitchen inside the mansion.

The bedrooms and restrooms were obviously spared given due to the privacy purposes of course.

The guards were obviously lazing around the surveillance room.

A door on the wall opposite to the entrance led further inside in to the ammo room, which only Gigi and another guard Garry, Gigi’s younger brother and his assistant, who was not present inside the security room at that moment had the key.

The rest of the guards who clicking their glass of cold beers and had their backs turned away from the surveillance monitors, which was also why they didn’t know that Gigi had arrived.

They all sat in circles, laughing and drinking as they played cards amongst one another.

They seemed to be on vacation mode and seeing them relaxing during their duty hours, agitated Gigi beyond context.

He slammed his hand over the steel door of the surveillance and one of the guards, who was quite buffed, his thick black hair gelled back with thick mustaches smeared around his face.

He immediately stood up as soon as he saw Gigi and then hit the rest of his fellow guards who were too busy still chiming and arguing amongst each other but it was of no use as they didn’t bother to listen to him.

Leaning down he flipped over the cards’ table, making everyone groan and lookup at him but the moment their eyes followed the trace of his gaze, everyone jumped up in sheer horror and gasped as they realized that they were busted for bad and definitely going to get fired as well.

“Where the f**k is Garry?” Gigi screamed out loud, demanding for his brother’s presence whom he had left in charge of the matters at the island.

The said man, who was tall, ginger haired and indeed a leaner version of his brother stood inside the kitchen, tossing a plain dough in his hands, as he wore an apron around his body and everyone around the kitchen laughed and clapped for him, as he very precariously yet skillfully tossed the dough in the air and made it land smoothly over the ceramic counter top, making the flour on the surface fly up everywhere.

All the female staff of the mansion that had gathered around the kitchen, clapped in joy. The moment the news that Garry was going to cook had spread across the mansion, everyone left their respective jobs and immediately rushed towards Garry.

Some of those house keepers were quite young, around the age of nineteen or maybe at around twenty five or more but even married women in their mid thirties and forties enjoyed watching the handsome man, take off his guard’s coat, wearing a pair of formal clothes, with his sleeves rolled up till his elbows.

“Oh, he is so fine.” said one of the maids.

“He is absolutely gorgeous.” Said another one.

“How I wish he would marry me.” Another woman in the crowd chimed.

“Ugh! I hate how he has the no date on the island policy.” A maid whispered back to her.

“It really isn’t because of him but because of his brother.” Another one groaned in anger.

“Owh! I just really wish he would notice me at least once. How perfect is her. he can cook, fight, has an incredibly handsome face and body. I love him so much.”

The door to the kitchen that led towards the dining room opened up and Serena walked in, seeing at the pool of the entire household gathered around the kitchen.

She sighed, smacking her palm over her forehead and shaking her head.

“Gosh! You guys are annoying.” She stated, irritated by how the girls around the island were all obsessed with the guy, who would also pump up their obsession with him by cooking every once in a while and showing off his culinary skills.

Serena exited the kitchen through the main foyer but paused when she watched Salva walk away from the main foyer leaving behind a girl that she had never seen before.

As soon as Althea turned towards Serena, she smiled at her, sensing that she might be part of the management.

-------------------------------

Do you think Althea did the right thing by going with Salva and Gigi? :D

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3